Intro to Socialogy

Context:  Historically, poverty has been disproportionately concentrated in urban areas.  Around the world, cities have been known for their large pockets of the country’s poor and infirm, recent immigrants and those who lack needed resources to succeed.  This has been a global pattern for generations.  But this pattern seems to have changed, at least in the U.S.

Essay Assignment #3: According to U.S. Census data, the majority of people living in poverty in the United States are now found in America’s suburbs.  What can explain this pattern change? 

Use the questions below to organize and guide your writing.

·       What social and or cultural factors are important to consider as part of your analysis?  Be sure to offer examples and cite your information source(s).

·       What structural factors are important to consider as part of your analysis?  Be sure to offer examples and cite your information source(s).

·       Do these factors apply to everyone in society or just certain groups?  Be sure to offer examples and cite your information source(s).

·       What theories that you learned this semester can help you support your position?

For this assignment, you must cite your information sources (at least two scholarly sources) in addition to your usual text.  Be sure to demonstrate an understanding of sociological imagination as you respond.

Suggested resources:

Contexts – a journal of the American sociological society

U.S. Census: American Community Survey

U.S. Census: American fact finder

The New York Times

Pew Research

The Brookings Institution

Key concepts: communities, gated communities, gentrification, immigration, migration, poverty, poverty line, redlining, section 8 housing, social forces, subculture, suburbanization, urban renewal, urbanization, white flight, .

Required reading preparation/resources: Ferris & Stein (2023) chapters 9-15.  

textbook link:  https://www.academia.edu/40998058/The_Real_World_S…